The Download: next-gen nuclear, and the data center backlash
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How next-generation nuclear reactors break out of the 20th-century blueprint The popularity of commercial nuclear reactors has surged in recent years as worries about climate change and energy independence drowned out concerns about…
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Why some “breakthrough” technologies don’t work out
Every year, MIT Technology Review publishes a list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. In fact, the 2026 version is out today. This marks the 25th year the newsroom has compiled this annual list, which means its journalists and editors have now identified 250 technologies as breakthroughs. A few years ago, editor at large David Rotman revisited…
The astronaut training tourists to fly in the world’s first commercial space station
For decades, space stations have been largely staffed by professional astronauts and operated by a handful of nations. But that’s about to change in the coming years, as companies including Axiom Space and Sierra Space launch commercial space stations that will host tourists and provide research facilities for nations and other firms. The first of…
Good technology should change the world
The billionaire investor Peter Thiel (or maybe his ghostwriter) once said, “We were promised flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” That quip originally appeared in a manifesto for Thiel’s venture fund in 2011. All good investment firms have a manifesto, right? This one argued for making bold bets on risky, world-changing technologies rather than…
Meet the new biologists treating LLMs like aliens
How large is a large language model? Think about it this way. In the center of San Francisco there’s a hill called Twin Peaks from which you can view nearly the entire city. Picture all of it—every block and intersection, every neighborhood and park, as far as you can see—covered in sheets of paper. Now…
How next-generation nuclear reactors break out of the 20th-century blueprint
Commercial nuclear reactors all work pretty much the same way. Atoms of a radioactive material split, emitting neutrons. Those bump into other atoms, splitting them and causing them to emit more neutrons, which bump into other atoms, continuing the chain reaction. That reaction gives off heat, which can be used directly or help turn water…
Hyperscale AI data centers: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2026
In sprawling stretches of farmland and industrial parks, supersized buildings packed with racks of computers are springing up to fuel the AI race. These engineering marvels are a new species of infrastructure: supercomputers designed to train and run large language models at mind-bending scale, complete with their own specialized chips, cooling systems, and even energy…
Sodium-ion batteries: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2026
For decades, lithium-ion batteries have powered our phones, laptops, and electric vehicles. But lithium’s limited supply and volatile price have led the industry to seek more resilient alternatives. A sodium-ion battery works much like a lithium-ion one: It stores and releases energy by shuttling ions between two electrodes. But unlike lithium, a somewhat rare element…
These Gen Zers just raised $11.75M to put Africa’s defense back in the hands of Africans
African defense company Terra comes out of stealth with a $11.75M round led by Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC.
inDrive turns to ads and groceries to diversify revenue
Advertising on inDrive is being rolled out across its top 20 markets following mid-2025 tests.